Social Media Week 2012: Is it Getting Hot in Here? Social Media's Impact on Climate Change

February 13 - 17 is Social Media Week and panels of experts on various topics are being streamed live. One cohort of panels from New York, Social and Environmental Change, includes topics related to the Climate. Specifically, be sure to check out Is it Getting Hot in Here? Social Media's Impact on Climate Change, moderated by Janine Gibson and featuring Andrew Revkin, Fabian Cousteau, and Dr. David Guggenheim.

UCAR & NCAR: Steroids, Baseball, and Climate Change

Earth's Climate on Steroids: UCAR & NCAR have published a video that explains human induced climate change using the analogy of steroids in baseball, which can be seen above or on YouTube (for more, see: Doping the Atmosphere?). With the increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we are more likely to experience temperature anomalies that are warmer than previous norms. Similarly, when baseball players have used steroids, many have seen drastic increases in statistical categories. Warmer than expected temperatures for the month of June (2011) can be seen in the National Climatic Data Center map below.

A global map of temperature anomalies in June 2011 with respect to 1961-1990 from the NCDC .

An Emerging Hockey Stick: Sea Level Rise

This video, which I first saw posted on Climate Denial Crock of the Week, discusses the emerging opinion that sea level rise is experiencing a sharp increase that is similar to the recent rise in temperatures (see the infamous "hockey stick" temperature graph below).

Similar to the recent rise of global average temperatures (see above), scientists are beginning to describe a sharp, "hockey stick"- like increase in sea level rise.

For more on sea level rise, check out this earlier post: The Rising Sea.

Climate vs. Weather

What is the difference between Climate and Weather? Simply put, climate is what you expect while weather is what you get. Although weather can vary quite frequently (and dramatically as we have seen this winter in New England) in the short term, clear long term climate trends can still be identified and investigated.

Check out the video above for an easy to understand explanation.